As many as 13 aircraft accidents happened in the country in nearly two years and one of them was due to technical fault, Lok Sabha was informed today.
Three of the accidents, including the helicopter crash at Katra in Jammu, happened last month.
"There were total of 13 accidents reported during the year 2014 and 2015 (till November), out of which, one accident was due to technical fault/snag", Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply.
So far this year, there have been six accidents. Apart from Katra, the accidents happened at Hubli, Coorg (Karnataka), Arunachal Pradesh, Mumbai and Nagaland.
The Civil Aviation Ministry is in the process of setting up a committee to investigate the accidents at Katra on November 23 and in Nagaland on November 24, Sharma said.
The third accident last month happened at Bombay High, Mumbai and in this regard, a panel has already been appointed by the Ministry.
The helicopter crash at Katra had killed seven people, including the pilot.
The helicopter just after take off from Katra helipad suddenly made a turn back and in the process lost control, started descending and finally crash landed on an open field, according to the written reply.
"The helicopter got entangled with the electric wires, toppled and caught fire before impacting with ground. A dead vulture was found along with the wreckage at the accident site which got burnt along with helicopter", it added.
